Miroslav Jenča, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas, briefed an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Thursday morning, following an announcement on Wednesday evening of a ceasefire.
“We welcome this agreement, and hope the ceasefire will hold”, said Mr. Jenča.
He told ambassadors that heavy fighting had been reported along the international border on 12 September, involving heavy artillery, drones and large-calibre weapons, according to reports.
Casualties
Mr. Jenča said the Armenian Government had “called the events a deliberate attack”, while Azerbaijan had countered that its military action amounted to “retaliatory measures”, which had been made “in response to provocations from Armenia.”
He said Armenia had reported 105 servicemen killed, and six civilians wounded as of Wednesday night, while Azerbaijan had reported 71 servicemen killed, and two civilians wounded.
Both countries have written to the Secretary-General and Security Council alleging violations of the ceasefire brokered by Russia in 2020, when a major escalation of fighting between the two former Soviet Republics took place, in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.
“The United Nations is not in a position to verify or confirm the specifics of these reports. We remain deeply concerned, however, over this dangerous escalation, including its possible impact on civilians”, said the Assistant Secretary-General.
Ready to respond
He said the UN Country Teams in both countries, “maintain open channels with the authorities and stand prepared to respond to emerging humanitarian needs, if requested, and as conditions allow.”
He said this week’s fighting “was the latest and the largest in a series of incidents since 2020. It highlights the fact that the process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan continues to encounter serious obstacles.”
Mr. Jenča said it was also a “stark reminder” that the tensions between the two, “also have the potential to destabilize the region. They highlight the need for all actors, in the region and beyond, to act constructively and to press the sides to work for a peaceful settlement.”
He said that the international community needed to remain “fully committed to a peaceful settlement” of the long-running dispute, “and spare no effort to deescalate the current tensions, bring the parties back to the negotiating table and help them achieve peace and stability in the region.”
Many education experts worry that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused untold damage to the education prospects of children around the world, exacerbating problems of falling standards that already existed, with millions of children receiving minimal, inadequate education, or no education at all.
In the days before the Transforming Education Summit, UN News met Leonardo Garnier, an academic and former education minister in Costa Rica, who was appointed by the UN Secretary-General as Special Advisor for the Summit.
He explained why going back to the old ways of teaching is not an option, and how the UN can help to bring fresh ideas to classrooms around the world and raise educational standards for children everywhere.
UN News The UN is tackling so many big geopolitical issues right now, such as the climate crisis, the pandemic, and the war in Ukraine. Why has education been chosen as key theme this year?
Leonardo Garnier It’s precisely the right time to do it, because when there’s an economic slowdown, what usually happens is that education goes under the table: it ceases to be a priority. Governments need money, and they stop spending on education.
The problem here is that the damage this causes is only apparent after several years. If you take the Eighties education crisis, it wasn’t until the Nineties and 2000s that you started to see how countries had lost out because of a lack of educational investment.
Millions of children were left out of school because of the pandemic. But the pandemic also brought out what had been happening for years, because many of those who were in school were not really learning properly.
UN News Talk us through the 1980s educational crisis. What happened, and what were the consequences?
Leonardo Garnier What you saw in many parts of the world was stagflation, and a huge reduction in education budgets. Enrolment rates fell, teacher numbers fell, and many children missed out on education, particularly high school education.
And what that meant is that, in many countries, only around half the labour force finished primary school. When you look at increasing poverty, and increasing inequality in many countries, it is very difficult not to relate that to the reduced educational opportunities of the Eighties and Nineties.
A family sit inside their home, in an informal settlement for internally displaced people in Kabul, Afghanistan.
UN News Do you think that what we’re seeing now is going to potentially lead to a repeat of that situation?
Leonardo Garnier That could happen. From 2000 to 2018 we saw increases in school enrolment rates in most countries, and in educational investment. From then on, educational budgets started to be reduced, and then the pandemic hit.
And then what you have is really two years in which education stopped in many countries, alongside an economic crisis. So yes, there is a risk that, instead of recovering from the pandemic, we could be in an even worse position than we were in 2019.
What the Secretary General is saying is that we have to protect education from this big hit, and recover what we lost in this pandemic. But we actually have to go further.
With SDG 4 [the Sustainable Development Goal to improve access to quality education for all], the UN and global community have set themselves very ambitious targets.
You might think that everybody should have the right to education but, if we keep doing things as they were being done prior to the pandemic, we won’t get there.
At the Transforming Education Summit, we want to send the message that, if we really want every young person in this planet to have the right to a quality education, we have to do things differently.
We have to transform schools, the way teachers teach, the way we use digital resources, and the way we finance education.
A girl studies online at home in Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire.
UN News What is your vision for an education system that is fit for the Twenty-First Century?
Leonardo Garnier It has to do with the content, with what we teach and the relevance of education.
On one side, we need the fundamental building blocks of education – literacy, numeracy, scientific thinking – but we also need what some people have called the Twenty-First Century skills. Social skills, problem solving skills.
Teachers need to impart knowledge by sparking curiosity, helping students to solve problems and guiding students through the learning process. But, to do that, teachers need better training, better working conditions, and better wages, because in many countries, the pay for teachers is very low.
They need to understand that their authority does not come from merely having more information than their students, but from their experience and capacity to lead the learning process.
In any labour activity, productivity results in part from the tools we use. When we talk about education, we’ve been using the same tools for around 400 years! With the digital revolution, teachers and learners could have access to much more creative tools for teaching and learning.
At the Summit, we’re saying that digital resources are what economists call a public good: they require a lot of investment to be produced, and they are not cheap, but once they are produced, everybody could use them.
We want digital learning resources to be transformed into public goods, so that every country can share their own resources with other countries. For example, teachers from Argentina could share content with teachers from Spain; Egypt has a lovely digital education project that could be shared with many other Arab countries.
The potential is there, but we need to bring everything together into a partnership for digital learning resources. This is something else that we are calling for at the Summit.
Ruchira Kamboj, Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, Haoliang Xu, Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Director of Bureau for Policy and Programme Support and Alhaji Fanday Turay, Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the United Nations spoke about South-South initiatives around peace-building and development. Credit: Juliet Morrison/IPS
by Juliet Morrison (toronto)
Inter Press Service
Toronto, Sep 15 (IPS) – A UN panel held underlined the impact of South-South Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) projects as vital tools for enabling sustainable development and peace in developing countries.
Organized by the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (UNDPPA) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the joint virtual side event explored how to strengthen cooperation among developing countries and discussed various SSTC projects. The panel was part of the annual Global South-South Development (GSSD) Expo occurring from Sept. 12 to 14 in Bangkok, Thailand.
SSTC refers to a collaboration whereby traditional donor countries and multilateral organizations help create initiatives between two or more Global South nations. Support is typically given in the form of funding, training, and/or management.
In her opening remarks, Elizabeth Spehar, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support, emphasized the importance of these collaborations. She pointed to the role that organizations like the Group of Seven Plus—a collective of 20 conflict-affected countries that promotes stability through peer learning and advocacy—can play in helping vulnerable countries tackle their most pressing problems.
Only 18 percent of conflict-affected countries are currently on track to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals, she noted.
“The resource and capacity limitations that many fragile and conflict-affected countries face can be enormous. Solidarity and peer-to-peer support through cooperation spearheaded by entities like the group of seven plus today, are more important than ever.”
The need to bolster South-South initiatives became especially clear during the pandemic, Ruchira Kamboj, Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, asserted during the event’s panel.
“As we witnessed, the COVID pandemic has tested the resilience of multilateral institutions, and the global south has been largely fending for itself. In realizing that, South-South cooperation has become even more crucial.”
Kamboj gave several examples of contributions India has made in recent years to bolster the capacity of other developing countries, including launching the first single country UN Development Partnership Fund (India-UN Fund) and offering its open source COVID-19 vaccine delivery software to interested nations.
She also emphasized the power of knowledge sharing among developing nations.
“Sharing valuable capacities, experience and knowledge amongst developing countries can be a catalyst for development as opportunities have improved for sharing the fruits of knowledge, technology, and growth.”
The panel also discussed how cooperation could help countries during conflict resolution.
Alhaji Fanday Turay, Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the United Nations, commented on how SSTCs were crucial to resolving his country’s civil war.
“Sierra Leone was plagued with 11 years of civil war that led to not only the loss of lives and properties but a breakdown in institutions and a retardation of development in all forms. However, through regional and cross-regional interventions and cooperation, Sierra Leone was reinstated as a democratic and peaceful state.”
Turay cited key examples that showcased how Sierra Leone had benefitted from SSTC collaboration around ensuring peace. This included the deployment of a Western African peacekeeping mission to implement the Lomé peace agreement and the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee in Sierra Leone—a step set out in the peace accord, which was overseen by the UN.
“It is very clear that the civil war in Sierra Leone ended as a result of collaborative efforts from member states of the global south and other development partners.”
SSTCs have also been used to boost the capacity of women’s participation in peace negotiations.
Panelist Juanita Millan Hernandez, UN Senior Mediation Adviser from Colombia, detailed her experience leading an intensive ceasefire training course for women in conflict areas, whereby training one group led to a ripple effect; the newly trained officers shared their expertise with others.
This sharing created important networks in areas where before, there were very few women equipped to participate in negotiations. Hernandez noted that establishing these networks was especially important given the peacekeeping field is dominated by older men, with specific views of security and peace.
By making the training comprehensive, the course also ensured trainees were able to tackle various types of conflict, significantly bolstering their ability to meaningfully participate.
“The idea is for them to not only be part of one attack, one negotiation, but also the face of security arrangements that can go to a very local situation in which all of these techniques, tools, and technical knowledge will be useful for them to solve and to participate in the more technical part of these processes. We are trying to build the capacity of each course around 25 women, but they will replicate the knowledge to two more women in the locality.
In closing the event, Haoliang Xu, Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Director of Bureau for Policy and Programme Support underscored the need for developing countries to lean on each other’s expertise and collaborate in tackling tough issues.
“There is no international system in which the national governments have to transfer resources to support less developed areas To ensure that the level of development meets certain standards internationally, the best tool we have is solidarity and development cooperation.”
IPS UN Bureau Report
View of the port of Pecém, in the state of Ceará in northeastern Brazil, with its container yard and the bridge leading to the docks where the ships dock, in the background. Minerals, oil and gas, steel, cement and wind blades are some of the products imported or exported through what is the closest Brazilian port to Europe. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS
by Mario Osava (fortaleza, brazil)
Inter Press Service
FORTALEZA, Brazil, Sep 15 (IPS) – Brazil could become a world leader in the production of green hydrogen, and the northeastern state of Ceará has anticipated this future role by making the port of Pecém, with its export processing zone, a hub for this energy source.
The government of Ceará has already signed 22 memorandums of understanding with companies interested in participating in the so-called “green hydrogen hub,” which promises to attract a flood of investment to the Pecém Industrial and Port Complex.
“If 30 to 50 percent of these projects are effectively implemented, it will be a success and will transform the economy of Ceará,” predicted engineer and administrator Francisco Maia Júnior, secretary of Economic Development and Labor (Sedet) in the government of this state in Brazil’s Northeast region.
The lever will be demand from “countries lacking clean energy,” especially the European Union, pressured by its climate targets and now by reduced supplies of Russian oil and gas, in reaction to Western economic sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
Ceará has special advantages because of its huge wind energy potential, both onshore and offshore, in addition to abundant solar energy.
Hydrogen is produced as a fuel through the process of electrolysis, which consumes a large amount of electricity, and in order for it to be green, the electricity generation must be clean.
The state also has Pecém, a port built in 1995 with an industrial zone and an export zone, which is the closest to Europe of all of Brazil’s Atlantic ports.
Water, the key input from which the hydrogen in oxygen is broken down, will be reused treated wastewater from the metropolitan region of Fortaleza, capital of Ceará, 55 kilometers from the port. “It is cheaper than desalinating seawater,” Maia told IPS in his office at the regional government headquarters.
Fortaleza has the first large-scale desalination plant in Brazil, which is the source of 12 percent of the water consumed in this city of 2.7 million people.
Francisco Maia Júnior, Secretary of Economic Development and Labor of the Ceará state government, sits in his office in Fortaleza, the state capital. He believes that demand from the European Union will fuel the production of green hydrogen in Pecém, an industrial and port complex in this northeastern state of Brazil, which has great clean energy potential to produce it. CREDIT: Sedet Communication
Wind and solar potential
“Ceará is extremely privileged in renewable energies,” electrical engineer Jurandir Picanço Júnior, an experienced energy consultant for the Federation of Industries of Ceará (Fiec) and former president of the state-owned Ceará Energy Company, which was later privatized and acquired by Enel, the Italian electricity consortium, told IPS.
Wind and solar generation potential in the state was double the electricity supply in 2018, according to the Wind and Solar Atlas of Ceará, prepared in 2019 by Fiec together with the governmental Ceará Development Agency and the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service.
Moreover, the two sources complement each other, with wind power growing at night and dropping in the hours around midday, exactly when solar power is most productive, said Picanço at Fiec headquarters, showing superimposed graphs of the daily generation of both sources.
The Northeast is the Brazilian region where wind power plants have multiplied the most, and their supply sometimes exceeds regional consumption. The local winds “are uniform, they do not blow in gusts” that affect other areas in the world where they can be stronger, said Maia. They are also “unidirectional,” said Picanço.
“The International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) has recognized the Northeast as the most competitive region for green hydrogen,” said Picanço, forecasting Brazil’s leadership in production of the fuel by 2050. “Brazil is still hesitating in this area, but Ceará is not,” he said.
Duna Uribe is commercial director of the Industrial and Port Complex of Pecém, in northeastern Brazil. She studied in the Netherlands and negotiated the participation of the port of Rotterdam as a partner in Pecém, with 30 percent of the capital. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS
Having Pecém, a port through which 22 million tons a year pass, and its neighboring special economic zone (SEZ), with benefits such as tax reductions, enhances the competitiveness of Brazil’s hydrogen.
The port will have structures for storing hydrogen in the form of ammonia, which requires very low temperatures, with companies specialized in its transport and electrical installations with plugs for refrigerated containers, all factors that save investments, said Duna Uribe, commercial director of the Pecém Complex.
Link with Rotterdam
In addition, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Europe’s largest port, has been a partner in Pecém, a state-owned company of Ceará, since 2018, with 30 percent of the shares. That brings credibility and attracts investments to the Brazilian port, Maia said.
This partnership is due in particular to Uribe, a young administrator with a master’s degree in Maritime Economics and Logistics from Erasmus University in the Netherlands, who worked at the Port of Rotterdam.
The complex currently generates about 55,000 direct and indirect jobs, 7,000 of which are in the port, where some 3,000 people work directly in port activities and in companies that operate there.
These wind blades were manufactured in the industrial zone of the Pecém Complex, in northeastern Brazil. Local production of green hydrogen will require a great deal of electricity to be generated by wind and solar plants. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS
Pecém was born in 1995 with an initial focus on maritime transportation and two basic projects: a private steel industry to be installed in the SEZ and a state-owned oil refinery, which did not work out.
But the complex has always had an energy vocation, with four thermoelectric power plants, two coal-fired and two natural gas-fired, as well as a wind blade factory and two cement plants.
Social effects
“The port was good because it gave jobs to many people here who used to grow beans, sugarcane, bananas, and today they no longer have land to farm,” Zefinha Bezerra de Souza, 76, who has lived in the town of Pecém since 1961, told IPS.
One of her sons is still fishing. The port did not affect fishing, which is done far out at sea, she said.
One of the first to start working at the port was Terezinha Ferreira da Silva, 54. She started working for the Andrade Gutierrez construction company in 1997, in charge of the port’s initial works, and was later hired by the Complex’s administrator, where she is in charge of receiving documents and is a telephone operator.
Zefinha Bezerra de Souza (right) recognizes the good jobs offered by the Pecém Industrial and Port Complex for the residents of the small town of Pecém. They have stopped growing beans and sugarcane because the land has become more expensive, but the fishermen continue to fish, like her son, married to Marcia da Silva, seated to her left. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS
“I was earning very well, I was able to build my house” in the town of Pecém, she said. The town, a few kilometers from the port, had 2,700 inhabitants according to the official 2010 census and twice as many people living in the surrounding rural area.
The “hydrogen hub” will start to become a reality in December, when the private company Energias de Portugal, from that European country, inaugurates a pilot hydrogen plant in the SEZ.
The wealth generated by the hub will initially be concentrated in Pecém, but will then radiate throughout the Northeast, because it will require numerous wind and solar energy plants to be installed in the region’s interior, Uribe told IPS in Fortaleza.
The installation of offshore wind farms is planned, but in the future. This activity has not yet been regulated and there will be a need for power transmission lines and training of technicians, she explained.
Brazil could lead in the production of green hydrogen in a few decades, due to the possibility of generating high volumes of wind and solar energy at low cost and because it has the port of Pecém, with the best conditions for exporting to Europe, according to Jurandir Picanço, energy consultant for the Federation of Industries of Ceará, the northeastern state of the country where it is located. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS
Hydrogen culture
Adaptations in local education, with changes at the university, are picking up speed. Since 2018, the state-owned Federal University of Ceará has had a Technological Park (Partec).
A hotel that was built on the university campus to host fans for the 2014 World Cup has been transformed from a white elephant into a green hydrogen research center, said Fernando Nunes, director-president of Partec.
Encouraging practical research and the emergence of new technology companies is one of its tasks, which are gaining new horizons with hydrogen.
It is necessary to train technicians even in the interior, because in the future hydrogen, initially intended for export, will be disseminated in the domestic market, “with mini-plants, when the cost comes down to reasonable levels,” Nunes told IPS.
“Energy will be the redemption of the Northeast, especially Ceará, where we already generate more electricity than we consume,” he said.
The promotion of hydrogen in Ceará is being carried out in a unique way, by a Working Group made up of the state government, represented by Sedet and the Secretariat of Environment, the Federation of Industries, the Federal University and the Pecém Complex.
GENEVA, Sep 15 (IPS) – Next week, taking place alongside the UN General Assembly, President Biden hosts a financing summit in New York of such importance that it will determine if millions of people live, will shape the world around us for years to come and will set the future direction of global health. At least $18 billion is needed to fund the work of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
A successful replenishment of the Global Fund will help strengthen the fight against three of today’s deadliest diseases and build more resilient national health systems capable of withstanding tomorrow’s shocks.
The funding needs are particularly urgent in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic which caused such severe disruption to the delivery of essential healthcare, including HIV treatment, prevention and care services.
The latest data from UNAIDS has revealed a global faltering response to HIV, compounded by a continued decline in resources. Around 650 000 people died of AIDS-related illnesses last year, with tuberculosis remaining a major cause of death among people living with HIV.
There were also 1.5 million new HIV infections—over one million more than the global target set. New infections fell by only 3.6% between 2020-2021, the smallest annual decline since 2016. New infections increased in 38 countries.
Infections continue to occur disproportionately among young women and adolescent girls aged 15—24, with a new infection every two minutes. The gendered HIV impact, particularly for young African women and girls, has taken place amidst severe disruption to HIV treatment and prevention services, millions of girls forced out of school, and spikes in teenage pregnancies and gender-based violence.
In sub-Saharan Africa, adolescent girls and young women are three times as likely to acquire HIV as adolescent boys and young men. Vulnerable groups of people worldwide such as gay men and other men who have sex with men have also been disproportionately affected during service interruptions.
If we don’t more effectively prevent young people from getting HIV now, especially young women and adolescent girls, there will be millions more infections and deaths and the resources needed to end AIDS will increase further.
Stigma and discrimination that drives the epidemic among marginalized and criminalized groups of people must be tackled, including through law reform. And there must be bolder action to ensure that children living with HIV receive antiretroviral therapy as a matter of course—currently just half of HIV positive children are on life-saving treatment.
Giving young people the chance to live requires investment. But international solidarity in the fight against HIV and other global health threats has been fraying. At a time when global leadership and an increase of funding is most needed, too many high-income countries are cutting back aid, and resources for global health are under serious threat.
In 2021, international resources available for HIV were 6% lower than in 2010. Overseas development assistance for HIV from bilateral donors other than the United States of America has plummeted by 57% over the last decade. The HIV response in low- and middle-income countries is US$8 billion short of the amount needed by 2025.
Furthermore, global trade rules are obstructing low- and middle-income countries’ production of pandemic-ending medicines, including new and emerging long-acting HIV medicines, and keeping prices unaffordably high.
The United States has already pledged $6 billion to the 7th Global Fund Replenishment but this is contingent on other donors stepping up to fully achieve the $18 billion target. Since it was created in 2001, the Global Fund has saved millions of lives by reducing the impact of HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria. It must be fully funded to carry out its work—and its partners too.
Recognizing the complementarity between the work of the Global Fund and UNAIDS, the US has also raised its contribution to UNAIDS by $5 million for 2022. UNAIDS is on the ground in countries collecting the data that shapes the HIV response, helping advance the removal of harmful laws and policies and the end of HIV-related stigma and discrimination, and generating an enabling environment where investments can be most effective. Its work is key to maximizing the effectiveness of national programmes financed by the Global Fund.
Member States of the United Nations have made a commitment to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda to deliver health and well-being for all, to achieve universal health coverage, and to build a more prosperous, equitable and sustainable world.
We can end AIDS. If we succeed – and the data is clear that we can – it will save millions of lives, be a pivotal moment for a healthier, more secure planet, and be a triumph of international cooperation.
But the investment is needed today. Let’s fight for what counts.
Winnie Byanyima is Executive Director of UNAIDS and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Footnote: US President Joe Biden will host the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment Conference on September 21 in New York City. Founded in 2002, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is described as a unique financing mechanism that relies on a dynamic partnership among governments, the private sector, and civil society to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria in ways that contribute to strengthening health systems.
A flooded village in Matiari, in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Credit: UNICEF/Asad Zaidi
Opinion by Philippe Benoit (paris)
Inter Press Service
PARIS, Sep 14 (IPS) – One third of Pakistan is now under water. The scope of the destruction is difficult to fathom, not just the enormity of the devastation its people are facing today, but also the damage to its infrastructure, its buildings, and its economy that will weigh heavily on the country for months and even years to come.
Pakistan is facing the type of large-scale destruction that is seen in wars — and not just any war, but total warfare that consumes entire regions and countries. This is what many countries suffered in World War II and others in more recent conflicts. In Pakistan, the cause isn’t an army, but a changing climate fueled at least in part by the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions clogging our atmosphere.
Because our historical and future GHG emissions will produce some degree of climate change, we indeed do need to fund measures to respond to the inescapable changes in weather patterns and climate more broadly – even as, through mitigation action, we seek to lower our GHG emissions to limit how much our climate will change.
Yet, the recent events in Pakistan illustrate the shortcomings of an adaptation strategy in the face of widespread devastation. Any notion of “adapting” to these events is tragically misplaced. We cannot, just as countries cannot adapt to the destruction of war. They can resist, fight, look to recover, but the tragedy they suffer cannot be undone.
And while the number of lives lost because of climate change arguably may presently be smaller than that wrought by war, the capacity of both to destroy property, livelihoods and economies is similar.
The goals and elements proposed by the experts within the “adaptation” effort are the right ones. We must look to limit the losses generated by changes in our climate, to accelerate the recovery from extreme climate events, and even seek potential opportunities.
We must invest in climate resilient infrastructure, drought-resistant crops and other strengthened agricultural practices, better weather forecasting capacity, tools to reconnect power supply more quickly, and in a multitude of other measures. And these efforts need to be adapted to the changes in our climate. Moreover, as climate specialists and others advocate, many more resources need to go into this area.
But while technocrats and politicians of the past landed on this terminology of “adaptation”, what today’s events in Pakistan show is that you cannot truly adapt to climate change and its potential for widespread devastation — especially developing countries that do not have the financial resources to counter extreme weather events.
Even at a smaller scale across both developing and wealthier advanced economies, the rising number and severity of localized wildfires, heatwaves and floods are causing irreparable damage. People suffer loss. Although they might recover and rebuild their homes or businesses, there has still been harm and too often tragedy. People die because of climate change. Too much is lost forever.
There has been growing discussion in the international climate arena around payments for “loss and damage” caused by climate change. This type of funding, including for additional adaptation measures, can help — but it will not remedy the problem, especially given the potentially massive magnitude of the destruction.
Pakistan cannot be expected to adapt to having one third of its country under water. Families should not be expected to adapt to the tragedy climate change can inflict.
Let’s find another term that better conveys what is truly within our reach in responding to climate change so that we can have a clearer appreciation of the climate threats we face. The global community can indeed work to reduce the loss people will suffer and do a better job at helping them to recover and rebuild. But truly “adapting” to the devastation that climate change can cause is a dangerously misleading notion.
Yes, there must be additional funding for adaptation and to help poorer countries respond to climate disasters. But what the events in Pakistan show is that so much more needs to be done to reduce GHG emissions and thereby limit the degree of climate change and accompanying destructive forces people will need to face.
Philippe Benoit has over 20 years working on international energy, climate and development issues, including management positions at the World Bank and the International Energy Agency. He is currently research director at Global Infrastructure Analytics and Sustainability 2050.
IZYUM, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a bold visit on Wednesday to the recently liberated city of Izyum in the eastern Kharkiv region, where he participated in a flag-raising ceremony to mark the nation’s most important military victory since Russian invaders were repelled from the suburbs of Kyiv in late March.
Zelensky, striking a resolute tone, said that while Russia might temporarily occupy parts of Ukraine, “it is definitely impossible to occupy our people, the Ukrainian people.”
“The heroes are here,” he said, describing the significance of the blue-and-yellow banner. “It means that the enemy is gone, ran away.”
The swift and remarkably successful counteroffensive that liberated Izyum and towns and villages throughout the Kharkiv region, has proved to be both a crucial military victory as well as a psychological triumph, lifting national spirits, reinforcing Ukraine’s international support and sparking calls for additional weapons and equipment, in hopes of capitalizing on what seems to be a turning point in the nearly seven-month war.
Western military and intelligence analysts say Russia’s forces appear to be severely depleted, largely incapable of offensive operations to retake ground, and potentially vulnerable to further attacks. Ukraine’s military, in turn, seems intent on pressing its counteroffensive in the east and the south.
“We thank all of you for liberating our state from the enemy — from the terrorists of the Russian Federation and from the traitors who betrayed our state with the bills of artificial republics,” Zelensky said, addressing Ukrainian soldiers as he stood in front of the city’s bombed-out municipal building.
“The last few months have been extremely difficult for you. Therefore, I am asking you: Take care of yourself; you are the most precious we have,” he said.
The president’s appearance here was one of his many combat-zone trips since February. They have provided a contrast between the youthful Ukrainian leader and the aging Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who calls the war a “special military operation” and has not visited his soldiers in the field since launching the war.
Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukraine had recaptured just over 3,0oo square miles during offensives in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions.
In the hours after the president’s visit on Wednesday, the city remained nearly silent.
Soldiers milled about, directing vehicles over a pontoon bridge installed to replace a bridge destroyed by Russian troops. A few civilians wandered through downtown, where the majority of buildings were severely damaged by shelling or fires and most shops were looted.
Residents described the Russian occupiers as giving up without a fight.
One resident, Maksym, 29, who spoke on condition only his first name be used because of fears of reprisal, said the Russian forces enforced a curfew in the days before Ukrainian troops retook the town. “During that time, they left,” he said. “They were just fleeing from here.”
Maksym’s wife, Toma, 27, said there was “absolutely not” a battle for the city. Russian forces seemed to know they would lose, she said, and opted to leave as nearby towns began falling to the Ukrainians.
Given reports of such utter collapse, Putin is coming under pressure from pro-war hard-liners for tougher action. On Wednesday, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a longtime Putin ally called for martial law and mandatory military mobilization, moves so far ruled out by the Kremlin.
Putin has steered clear of such steps because they are likely to prove politically toxic, by undermining the passive Russian public support for the war, particularly in major cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg, which have experienced very few war casualties.
Kadyrov also said that Russia should use “all kinds of weapons,” a hint at the use of nuclear or chemical weapons, claiming that Russia is fighting against NATO, not just Ukraine, which is now a common assertion from state officials and propagandists.
“If it were up to me, I would declare martial law all over the country and use all kinds of weapons, because today we are at war with the entire NATO bloc,” the Chechen strongman said, adding that he would have mobilized long ago “and used every opportunity to finish with these evil spirits faster.”
Meanwhile, Zelensky adviser Mykhailo Podolyak also doubled down, saying Ukraine must liberate the entire Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Parts of those regions have been under Moscow’s control since the Kremlin instigated a separatist war in 2014
“Time for the final strike against the Evil Empire,” Podolyak said on Twitter. Podolyak also called on the West to supply tanks armored vehicles, multiple launch rocket systems, air defense systems and more drones.
As Russia’s military is struggling in Ukraine, Moscow’s finances are coming under similar intensifying pressure. Government financial data released on Wednesday showed a dramatic drop in oil and gas revenue in August because of sanctions and lower sales of energy to Europe.
Russia’s economy has wobbled but not collapsed under Western punitive measures, performing better than expected thanks to high energy prices and aggressive state measures to shore up the ruble and avoid a currency collapse. But August revenue figures from the Ministry of Finance signaled a longer-term problem, as Moscow gradually loses its most import energy market, in Europe, and must accept discounted prices in Asia.
Russia had reduced gas supplies to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in recent months and finally cut supplies this month, in moves designed to tighten pressure on Europe and raise fears of a tough winter, as the Continent tries to wean itself off cheap Russian gas.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned Russia during her State of the European Union Speech on Wednesday for “actively manipulating our energy market.”
“They prefer to flare the gas than to deliver it,” von der Leyen said. “This market is not functioning anymore,” she added, warning that Europe faces tough months ahead as a result.
Von der Leyen said that Russia’s financial sector was “on life-support” thanks to sanctions and its industry was “in tatters.” She also said that Western powers had made a historic mistake by ignoring years of warnings about Putin from Poland the Baltic countries. Leaders of those countries, including Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, are again calling on Western allies to quickly send more powerful weapons to Ukraine.
Putin insisted Monday that the West’s “economic blitzkrieg, the onslaught they were counting on, has failed, which is already obvious to everyone, and to them, too.” Russia has softened the impact of sanctions through social payments to families and pensioners and support for industry.
Still, Russia’s heavy industry, including the automobile and manufacturing sectors, has been hit hard by Western bans on the transfer of computer chips and other technology, with many Russian fabricators heavily reliant on imported parts.
After Ukraine’s stunning weekend advance in the Kharkiv region, Zelensky and other top Ukrainian officials have amped up calls for Western military aid. They released a proposal Tuesday for security guarantees from a group of Western countries and called for a multi-decade effort involving major weapons transfers and industrial investment to reinforce Ukraine’s military against Russian aggression.
But the Kremlin’s top spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said only Putin and the Russian leadership could give Kyiv real security guarantees. And Peskov said that Ukraine’s call for security guarantees from Western countries proved it still wanted to join NATO. Ukraine’s NATO aspirations were a main reason that Putin cited in threatening military action before the invasion.
“Therefore, the main threat to our country persists,” Peskov said.
War in Ukraine: What you need to know
The latest: Grain shipments from Ukraine are gathering pace under the agreement hammered out by Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations in July. Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports had sent food prices soaring and raised fears of more hunger in the Middle East and Africa. At least 18 ships, including loads of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, have departed.
The fight: The conflict on the ground grinds on as Russia uses its advantage in heavy artillery to pummel Ukrainian forces, which have sometimes been able to put up stiff resistance. In the south, Ukrainian hopes rest on liberating the Russia-occupied Kherson region, and ultimately Crimea, seized by Russia in 2014. Fears of a disaster at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station remain as both sides accuse each other of shelling it.
Najat Rochdi said she had already seen the potential for bridging divides between Syrians during civil society dialogues, and the divergent views represented through the Women’s Advisory Board, which “demonstrates to all of us that, despite many differences among them, common ground can be found.”
She added that “Syrians can come together to rescue their country and focus on its future”, but it was up to the international community and those invested in a diplomatic end to the fighting, to “advance a sustainable, inclusive political solution”, and “correct Syria’s trajectory”, moving instead to a ceasefire and lasting peace.
Video player
Steps taken
Ms. Rochdi began her briefing to the Council by outlining the steps being taken by her office, led by Special Envoy Geir Pedersen, to advance the peace process, in the face of continued civilian suffering.
The immediate concerns are fourfold she said. First, civilian safety and security, and the need for a “consolidated ceasefire”. Secondly, continued humanitarian suffering, exacerbated by Syria’s economic collapse. Third, the continuing anguish for the “tens of thousands” arbitrarily detained, abducted or “forcibly disappeared” and those missing.
Finally, she highlighted the ways in which women and girls continue to be hugely impacted by ongoing war, and the UN’s efforts to “ensure the meaningful participation of Syrian women, equally and together with men”, in forging a sustainable peace.
Violence must end
Ms. Rochdi said it was clear that no political process could move forward, “meaningfully or sustainably, until violence is curtailed and ultimately ends.”
Humanitarian relief efforts, she argued, would be advanced so much more if the violence could be curtailed, and by addressing factors which continue to drive displacement.
“Addressing all these factors, is part of creating a safe, calm and neutral environment in which a political process can unfold. Action is also needed to deal with Syria’s economic collapse – a major source of needs.”
Video player
Dire warning over possible aid cutbacks
UN relief chief, Martin Griffiths, warned ambassadors that without adequate and flexible resources provided by international donors, the lifesaving humanitarian operation in Syria, “will have no option but to drastically reduce assistance.”
Out of a total ask of some $10.5 billion for the humanitarian response this year, together with the refugee and resilience plan, only around a quarter of what’s needed in humanitarian aid alone, has been forthcoming.
Some 14.6 million Syrians rely on some kind of aid, more than half of them children, and winter is fast approaching, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator said.
Give peace a chance
“The people of Syria deserve the chance to build a dignified life, away from reliance on emergency aid, a life with hope for the future. Today, in Syria, millions are living without that hope.”
He said the UN was doing its utmost to keep aid flowing into the country, helping on average, 900,000 each month in the war-ravaged northeast, with a huge need to scale up cross-line convoys in the northwest.
Mr. Griffiths expressed alarm over the arrival of cholera in the country in the past few weeks, saying that it was “a stark reminder of just how critical our continued support remains to the people of Syria.”
More than four million have benefitted from UN projects that contribute to early recovery and resilience so far in 2022, he said.
Return to larger-scale fighting may be head, rights experts warn
Earlier in the day, in Geneva, UN independent rights experts warned that a violent escalation in the Syrian conflict is possible, as they published their latest report into the human rights ramifications of the brutal war.
Head of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria, Paolo Pinheiro, said that “another Turkish ground operation” remains a threat in the north, amid the “continued mobilization and fighting” between Turkish and Turkish-backed forces and Kurdish-led opponents.
The flare-up has seen several deadly incidents in recent weeks, including the August shelling of a crowded market in al-Bab city; 16 civilians were killed, including five children.
Commissioner Lynn Welchman noted that Israel, the US and Iran-backed forces had also continued to engage in operations in Syria.
The panel, which was appointed by and reports to the Human Rights Council, also noted that Russia still actively supports the Syrian Government, particularly using “airstrikes that have killed civilians and targeted food and water sources, including a well-known water station serving over 200,000 people”, it said in a statement.
Last week, fresh airstrikes caused further deaths and injuries in Idlib province, which are currently under investigation, the Commission of Inquiry said.
The report features new data analyses covering more than 100 countries and territories, which reveal in headline terms, that boys are up to 1.3 times likely to get the maths skills they need, compared to girls.
False expectations
No girl should be left behind.
We must help every child learn the foundational skills they need to succeed in school and in life.#LetMeLearn#UNGA 👇
Negative gender norms and stereotypes often held by teachers, parents, and peers regarding girls’ innate inability to understand mathematics, are contributing to this disparity.
These stereotypes are projected onto young girls and often undermine their self-confidence, setting them up for failure, UNICEF says.
The report further recognizes the long-term effects of sustained gender disparities, specifically noting how boys are more likely to step up and apply for jobs in mathematics. The finding represents a stark gender gap, depriving the entire world of talent in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.
Opportunity fails to knock
“Girls have an equal ability to learn mathematics as boys – what they lack is an equal opportunity to acquire these critical skills,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.
“We need to dispel the gender stereotypes and norms that hold girls back – and do more to help every child learn the foundational skills they need to succeed in school and in life.”
Learning maths at a young age strengthens memory, comprehension, and analysis, in turn improving children’s ability to create, the report notes.
Ahead of next week’s crucial Transforming Education Summit, UNICEF warns that children who do not master basic maths and other foundational learning, may struggle to perform critical tasks in the future.
11-year-old Anish studies at home in Gujarat, India, as schools are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Figures tell the story
An analysis of data from 34 low and middle-income countries featured in the report, shows that while girls lag behind boys, three-quarters of schoolchildren in grade 4 elementary classes, are not obtaining foundational numeracy skills.
Data from 79 middle and high-income countries show more than a third of 15-year-olds have yet to achieve minimum proficiency in mathematics. These statistics reveal the depth of educational issues plaguing all genders.
Household wealth is also a determining factor. The report notes that schoolchildren from the richest households have 1.8 times the odds of acquiring numeracy skills by the time they reach fourth grade, than children from the poorest households.
Children who attend early childhood education and care programmes have up to 2.8 times the odds of achieving minimum proficiency in mathematics by the age of 15 than those who do not.
COVID millstone
The report further also notes the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on further entrenching gender disparities.
Similarly, mass disruptions to education systems worldwide have delayed progress for all students. In countries where girls are more likely to be out of school than boys, the overall disparities in mathematics proficiency have been growing since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Students sit outside of E Alfonso Ugarte school in San Rafael Shipibo community in the Masisea district of Peru due to classes being suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Turning the page
UNICEF is calling on governments to commit to reaching all children with quality education, and arguing for renewed effort and investment to re-enroll and retain all children in school; increase access to remedial and catchup learning; support teachers and give them the tools they need; and make sure that schools provide a safe and supportive environment so all children are ready to learn.
Ingrained within these standards, the agency says there needs to be a commitment to assess learning regularly, improving the delivery of instructions, prioritizing teaching the fundamentals and caring for mental wellbeing.
In her concluding comments Ms. Russell said: “With the learning of an entire generation of children at risk, this is not the time for empty promises. To transform education for every child, we need action and we need it now.”
“We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic”, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists during his regular weekly press conference.
The UN health agency’s Director-General explained however, that the world is “not there yet”.
Finish line in sight
“A marathon runner does not stop when the finish line comes into view. She runs harder, with all the energy she has left. So must we. We can see the finish line. We’re in a winning position. But now is the worst time to stop running”, he underscored.
He also warned that if the world does not take the opportunity now, there is still a risk of more variants, deaths, disruption, and uncertainty.
“So, let’s seize this opportunity”, he urged, announcing that WHO is releasing six short policy briefs that outline the key actions that all governments must take now to “finish the race”.
The policy briefs are a summary, based on the evidence and experience of the last 32 months, outlining what works best to save lives, protect health systems, and avoid social and economic disruption.
“[They] are an urgent call for governments to take a hard look at their policies and strengthen them for COVID-19and future pathogens with pandemic potential”, Tedros explained.
The documents, which are available online, include recommendations regarding vaccination of most at-risk groups, continued testing and sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and integrating effective treatment for COVID-19 into primary healthcare systems.
They also urge authorities to have plans for future surges, including the securing of supplies, equipment, and extra health workers.
The briefs also contain communications advice, including training health workers to identify and address misinformation, as well as creating high-quality informative materials.
Committed to the future
Tedros underscored that WHO has been working since New Year’s Eve 2019 to fight against the spread of COVID and will continue to do so until the pandemic is “truly over”.
“We can end this pandemic together, but only if all countries, manufacturers, communities and individuals step up and seize this opportunity”, he said.
Possible scenarios
Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, highlighted that the virus is still “ intensely circulating” around the world and that the agency believes that case numbers being reported are an underestimate.
“We expect that there are going to be future waves of infection, potentially at different time points throughout the world caused by different subvariants of Omicron or even different variants of concern”, she said, reiterating her previous warning that the more the virus circulates, the more opportunities it has to mutate.
However, she said, these future waves do not need to translate into “waves or death” because there are now effective tools such as vaccines and antivirals specifically for COVID-19.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
